A New Beginning
by Blank183
Summary: Collab with Bacatlover! "Sakura," he whispered. She looked above to see his Sharingan glowing in the dark, "I said I'm not letting you go this time."


A New Beginning

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His bedroom, the small apartment he'd called his temporary abode when he actually considered the village his home. He looked around, wary, wondering why he wasn't in the hospital.

"You're finally awake," she said. Eyes sharply tracking the source of her voice, he noticed her hunched form on a chair beside his bed.

She was boredly observing his hair, head in her hands, elbows propped on her knees. She answered his unspoken query, "There wasn't really room in the hospital, and we searched your house countless times for clues and such; I had the key on me"

As expected, the only reply she received was a half-sigh, half-grunt. "Look," Sakura muttered exasperatedly, "I can tell you're not entirely happy with this situation, but, honestly, neither am I. I spent all night at the hospital and all I really want to do right now is lie down and relax, but instead, I find myself here. You have any idea how difficult it is to counter a fever with chakra?"

He shot her an uninterested glance, his face stating his trademark 'I-couldn't-care-less' thought, and made to get up. In a flash, her hand was on top of his bare chest, pressing down firmly. His eyes showed anger for the first time.

"Sakura," he warned.

She merely scoffed, "You're in no position to demand the right to do as you wish." She leaned so close their noses almost touched, but there wasn't even a hint of a flush on her pale cheeks. "_I'm_ the boss right now."

Sakura couldn't help but be impressed with herself. Had she still been that same girl from all those years ago, she would never have dared defy _the_ Uchiha Sasuke. And yet, here she was, now physically commanding him, pressing him back into his own bed.

"Really, now," Sakura almost laughed at the annoyance plastered on Sasuke's face, "I'm quite serious. If you try and move too much, you'll tear your stitches, then it'll just be more work for me. Not too mention, I won't be quite as kind this time as the first." She smiled wickedly at that, "And we simply don't have any painkillers here."

Unfortunately for Sakura, Sasuke had been through pain worse than a needle sewing a couple stitches in him, but, he decided, he really didn't want to deal with her right now; he was still tired from fighting that damned eight tails Jinchuriki. So, he settled back onto the somewhat familiar bed and let some of the tension drain from his shoulders.

He closed his eyes to rest them; they were stinging slightly, still raw from his newfound doujutsu, courtesy of his dead brother. Sakura leaned further into the bed looking at him with an eyebrow quirked in amazement. That childish part of her, one that she just couldn't seem to bury deep enough in her mind to be forgotten forever, burst like a blooming flower, and it was all she could do to stifle her giggling. _Did he just listen to me_, she thought with awe.

But then he popped one eye open, and she sobered her expression, getting up and walking to the window, fingers sliding down the cold glass. "You didn't pay the electricity bill before you left did you?" She joked feebly, some of that cheerfulness sliding away from her tone, "Can't get a light on in here." It was a dingy gray, moonlight penetrating the room in crooked rays.

Sakura heard Sasuke moving in the bed behind her. Something in her wanted to turn and look, just to know what he was doing, to capture a little more of him in her memories before he disappeared again, but she didn't. She stood there with her hand splayed over the chilled glass staring out into the night sky.

"I'll never stay here." Sasuke said matter of factly, causing Sakura to grimace. The first real words to leave his mouth and he was simply telling her he never planned to pay that electricity bill again, never planned to be a team with her and Naruto again, never planned to be the Sasuke she knew again.

Finally turning back to him, smirking caustically, she said, "We'll never let you go."

He smirked himself. "You shouldn't promise yourself that."

"Oh I wouldn't mind hurting myself with my own promises." She looked him right in the eye, "It's better than being hurt by someone else."

And suddenly, the last five days played in her mind like a filmstrip. Him, returning, just like that, out of the blue, not even displaying a grand entrance. Him returning wearing the Akatsuki robes, of all things. Him, giving her an apathetic stare before he was right behind her, and she felt the spray of warm blood sprinkling on the back of her neck and hair, turning around to find a beheaded village elder. And before her mind could register what had happened, a series of explosions resonated from the outskirts of the village and she found herself being dragged by Ino to the borders of her village; saw Naruto battling an eight tailed demon.

She shuddered; the aura had ripped at her skin, the evil that seemed to seep out of that demon, out of the nine tails as Naruto summoned him. And then she was fighting some girl with flaming red hair and 'fat thighs' as Ino had commented.

And then a sense of nostalgia rolled over her as she, a battered Naruto, and a blood covered Sasuke faced each other in the midst of havoc. "Teme, you killed those old idiots. Why?" and they had charged at each other just as they had done so years ago, and she found herself running to get between them. It was history all over again.

But then, before the three of them could meet in what would have been an impact powerful enough to kill them, some wrinkled long haired idiot, Naruto had said, interfered and claimed himself back from the dead. Uchiha Madara.

She remembered how that armored man had said something about Sasuke betraying him, but that was all she saw of him or Naruto; she had battles of her own. She had to save the country people who had suffered. Thank Kami they were able to prevent the tailed beasts from coming near the village- it had been a close call. Next time she saw Naruto, he was carrying an unconscious Sasuke with bleeding eyes over his back. Kakashi followed behind with the dead body of Uchiha Madara.

Naruto had been crying.

He'd told her of Madara and Sasuke's confrontation. Told her how Madara had explained his own part in Itachi's story. How he'd manipulated the counsel into believing the destruction of the Uchiha clan was a necessity, that they were a danger to the Leaf. Sasuke had been, to say the least, shocked. From what Sasuke said to Madara, it was clear that he'd been lied to, given some false story.

Naruto told her how Sasuke's eyes had filled with tears when Madara explained to Sasuke that he had been the one to wear down Itachi, to weaken him, to ultimately kill him. Sasuke hadn't committed that act. Itachi had still been alive when he'd left with team Hebi, but Madara had no intention of letting the Mangekyou user live.

Whether the tears that showed themselves were ones of rage or ones of sorrow, Naruto didn't know.

They had returned to the Village and found Tsunade stooping over the three elder's corpses looking- Sakura had never been more afraid of her Shishou- relieved. She barked at Naruto to go check himself into the hospital and told Kakashi to gather all the ninjas on the roof of the Hokage tower.

"And you," she turned to her apprentice, hand on her hips, "get that boy some medical treatment and don't let him out of your sight."

And now she was here, in his old apartment, in the dark, feeling like she was going to be left behind again.

"Do you want to talk about, well, it?" Sakura asked hesitantly, already knowing the answer she'd get but still needed to fill the silence in the meagerly lit room.

"About what?" He responded, shocking her.

While her heart skipped several beats, she maintained her outward calmness. "Madara," she paused, uncertain as to whether she should mention _him_ or not. "And, Itachi."

Behind her Sakura heard the ripping of sheets and unsteady movements. She turned, breath escaping her as Sasuke came bearing down on her, calloused hands pinning her arms to her sides roughly.

"Don't you dare ask about my brother!"

She gulped but glared right back "Fine, I won't, but sooner or later you will have to explain yourself to Tsunade-shishou" his grip tightened on her upper arms and his head came closer, but she didn't falter back. "I'll be gone before that happens" he said softly. Sakura smiled wryly, and with one fluid kick to the stomach, one shove on the shoulders, he was back on the bed.

"Didn't I tell you we're not letting you go?" she purred.

Sasuke tried to suppress the groan that threatened to pass his lips but failed miserably. Sakura had managed to, of course, kick him directly where the enormous bruise had sullied his usually pale clear skin. Hissing the words through his teeth, Sasuke uttered, "Once I'm healed, you won't be able to stop me." Then Sakura started to giggle much to Sasuke annoyance.

"Uchiha Sasuke, do you really think that you alone can get past me, let alone many of Konoha's elite? And besides, do you now have perfect chakra control? Can you mend your flesh now?"

He didn't respond, his infamous glare was enough to show his emotions, but Sakura noted how 'interested' he looked whilst staring at her, propped on his elbows. An idea, not exactly a smart one, came to her mind. She leaned down on the bed between his legs, surprised that he didn't stop her, and stroked the length of his stomach with one glowing finger tip. An unwilling sigh escaped his lips.

"Feels good, right?" she smirked, and then jabbed his bruise painfully.

"Let's just say, if you're a good boy, you can have more of this." She slid her fingers, still cool from the windowpane, over his abdomen again, chakra trailing from the tips and into his skin and muscles. "But," she whispered, hovering closely, "if you're a bad boy..." she didn't get the chance to press sharply against the bruise this time as Sasuke's hand had caught her own.

"Don't," he rasped out, voice heavy, "do that." Sakura quirked a brow. He'd almost sounded like he was pleading; which was definitely an oddity for Sasuke seeing as he hadn't been at all perturbed by her threat early to stitch him up again.

A cheshire grin lit her whole face. It had felt good, hearing his voice sound like that, so 'recessive'. She wanted to pursue her discoveries further, and she did exactly that. "Why not?" she whispered, restraining the urge to laugh as she made her voice sound seductive. "I'm only trying to help you, Sa-su-ke-kuuun" she leaned in and blew on his ear, feeling the shadow of a quiver from his body.

"Sakura" he warned, not exactly recoiling from her advances. His body was rigid, frozen in place. She got even closer, palms flat out on either side of his hips, knees touching the interior of his thighs. "Sasuke" she licked the shell of his ear "are you a virgin?"

"What kind of question is that, Sakura? You think I've gone all these years with no kind of sexual satisfaction? Women in other villages are... quite open," he finished, casting a cursory glare at Sakura.

"Hmph," Sakura pouted, cheek now pressed to his, lips grazing his earlobe.

"How many women?" She blurted, curiosity getting the better of her. She started when Sasuke chuckled quietly beneath her. Since when did Sasuke laugh? Albeit it was a very minute laugh, it was still a laugh.

"Why would you want to know," his voice had gotten husky now. She could feel his breath on her neck and it seemed like the tides were turning, but she wasn't about to let go of her position just yet.

"Oh, I just wanted to compare" she said casually.

Sasuke jolted at that, and his hand found the back of her neck as he pulled her face to his level. "You've-"

"Of course."

"How many-?"

"You first."

"Why would you care?" Sasuke shot back.

"I don't, I'm just curious," Sakura said with equal fervor.

"So am I."

They stared intently at each other for a full minute

"Six."

"Three."

"Six," Sasuke growled, squeezing the back of her neck a little too tight. "You're lying," he said in a no-nonsense tone. Sakura scoffed before replying, "Okay, okay, two."

"Much better," Sasuke grumbled.

"What?" Sakura said brightly, fingers wriggling against his stomach. "I thought you said you didn't care!"

"I don't, but I also don't like being lied to."

His words sobered her up a little, made her realize just how close she was to him. If she wanted to, she could stretch her neck just ever so slightly and her lips would be touching his. He'd probably push her away, but she couldn't help but wonder how his mouth would feel against hers.

Before she could finish that thought, she felt him shift closer, felt something soft press against her lips, felt his hair tickling her cheeks and forehead. He made a rumbling sound deep in his throat, tracing his tongue over her lower lip. She saw his eyes were closed peacefully; he was bringing her head closer, fisting the hair behind her neck. She raised one eyebrow, swung a hand back, and slapped him, lightly, of course.

"What the hell?" he hissed.

She made a disgusted noise and shoved him fully on the bed, straddling him.

"Won't work on me Sasuke-kun," she felt her anger threatening to erupt. "You're not escaping."

_Thank you_. It flashed in her mind, what he had done to her all those years ago.

"No way in hell am I letting you pull that one on me again," she snippily told him.

"What?" Sasuke, genuinely confused, asked.

"Oh, no you don't. Don't act all innocent. You know as well as I do what you were planning right there. But you know what, Sasuke-kun, I know about that sneaky little pressure point there, I know about all the pressure points in the human body now; I could hit a few and you wouldn't even be able to walk for a couple of days. Is that what I'll have to do to keep you here? To keep you with me." She finished, her voice a whisper.

"You know what," she snapped suddenly. "That... was not being a good boy." And she sent a slight jolt of chakra to his bruised stomach.

"Damnit Sakura!" He bit out, teeth clenched painfully. "You're taking this all wrong."

She crossed her arms and huffed, "You can't blame me for being careful."

He gave an aggravated sigh and folded his arms beneath his head, looking up at the ceiling. "I'm not going anywhere with you sitting on top of me like that," his voice was tinged with amusement. Sakura tried to hold back the blush that was creeping up her neck, all the way to her cheeks.

"You've changed." He sounded like he didn't want to admit it.

"W-what?" she whispered, eyes widened, arms coming to limply hang on her sides. She forgot all about getting off of him. Did he just _acknowledge_ her?

He shot her a reproachful glare. "I thought maybe you would wait for me," he said boredly.

She sucked in a breath. Guess not. Sasuke didn't even know of the capabilities to acknowledge her for, and even if he did, his male ego would hold him back from ever admitting it, even to himself.

"Jerk," she muttered, digging her fisted hands into the bed on either side of Sasuke's shoulders. "Will you ever see anyone other than-" Sakura stopped, recalling what had happened earlier when she mentioned his brother. She watched as his mask settled back over him. Any laughter she'd just seen in his eyes was gone. She didn't like upsetting him, but damnit, he had to deal with it.

"Sasuke, I didn't-" and she really couldn't speak after that. Arms moving quickly, he'd grabbed her around the shoulders, pulling her flush against his bare torso. She thought she'd feel his soft yet unyielding lips on hers again, but instead he just pressed her cheek to his neck, his chin resting on her shoulder.

She heard him sigh, and she wriggled consciously in his hold. The plan was to make _him_ feel uncomfortable. She couldn't bear being this close to him and not doing anything!

"Stop fidgeting" he finally said, but tightened his grip even further.

"Are you planning on chok-"

"You were a precious person, Sakura; you were never a tool," he said abruptly. "But you know I can't keep that bond again."

She ceased her movements, tracing his collarbone "Why not?" she whispered.

"Because… I can never call this village my home."

"But you did everything you wanted to do; you finished your goals," she said tentatively.

"All based on lies."

"That doesn't have anything to do with you returning to stay here; it doesn't make sense why you won't come back into our lives again."

"Sakura, do you have any idea? Would you be able to live in a village where the very people that you'd once trusted with your protection had been the cause of all your problems? Would you be able to stay here if they caused your family's death? If they let Naruto die? Could you sit by idly and accept that they were merely doing what was right for the village? I hate this village, with every fiber of my being. I hate it for my family, I hate it for Itachi, I hate it for me.

"But," Sakura interjected someone vehemently, "that wasn't the village, Sasuke. There were just certain people! And they're gone now, right? That was why you killed them right behind me, why I had their blood on my flesh! This isn't _their_ village, Sasuke; it's our home."

She finally wrenched herself out of his grasp and sat cross legged on the bed beside him. Being this close to him was driving her crazy, even if she did her best not to show it.

"Tsunade Shishou would die rather than let what happened in the past repeat itself," she whispered with confidence.

She turned to face him; his mouth was set in a tight line.

"Konoha is going to kill Akatsuki," she declared, "what's left of it, anyways. It looks like when you came back here days ago it was not according to that Madara person's plan."

He looked at her bleakly "It wasn't," he admitted, "I never trusted him wholeheartedly to begin with."

"Join us," she said, getting unconsciously close to his face again. "Join Konoha in defeating the Akatsuki."

"Why?"

She arched an eyebrow "You want them to pull another war on us?"

He smiled slightly pushing against the mattress beneath him and coming into a half sitting position. She was quick to the point certainly but he still would not ally himself with Konoha, not after all that the village had done to him and his family.

"Sasuke," Sakura uttered, inching closer to him. "Quit being an idiot!" she snapped reaching out to knock him out of his position and flat on his back, but instead, he grabbed the offending arm and pulled her into him.

She felt her heartbeat rising, and shook her head to clear it of some interesting thoughts that followed their close proximity. "Maybe," he said.

She looked at him uncertainly, "What?"

He grabbed her chin, and brought her face closer. "Maybe," he repeated, bringing out countless possibilities for her to hope about. She didn't feel like resisting this time and closing her eyes, sighed into his kiss.

His hand moved from her chin, to wrap around her shoulders. She cupped his face, settled perfectly between his legs again, as his other arm coiled around her waist, teeth lightly nipping her jaw.

Sakura's hands slid down to his neck, muscles taut as he pressed his lips to hers; her hands finally planted themselves on his flat rock-hard stomach as she ground against him in the most primal way as the wants of her body overtook the reasoning of her mind. She felt a shock jolt her body as he groaned in a combination of pain and pleasure; pain from her hands firmly pressing on his wounded stomach and pleasure from the brush of her skin against his.

When their lips parted, she breathed heavily, and tilted her head to the side when he inched closer. She suddenly realized that she was dead afraid to continue something she might regret, they weren't just playing games anymore. "N-no...we shouldn't..." she sighed, palms lightly pushing his chest back. She heard him hitch his breath- it was completely pitch black now- and found her back pressed to his bed. He hovered above her, all signs of pain gone from his features. "You think I'll let you go now?" he growled.

"It's n-not a matter of if you'll let me go, Sasuke. I don't want this, that's what-"

"You're lying," he murmured lips brushing her ear now, "you want this as much as I do. You're just afraid; you're just being a coward like usual."

"And you're just thinking about yourself as usual!" She hissed, hands pressing more fervently against him, trying to divest her past, who she'd been, what she'd wanted, all those stupid silly girlish thoughts that had permeated her mind years ago. She wanted to remove this boy, no, this man from her life but in the same instant she wanted to clutch him to her and never let him run again, never let him escape. And if she gave into this? If she let him have more than just her mind… would he run again? Would he stay? But more importantly, could she handle it if he left again?

"Stop over thinking everything," he said. She glared at him, furious for being read through so easily.

"You- mmpf!" She struggled when he forcefully kissed her, lips slanting over hers repeatedly. Her eyes flashed and she scraped her nails over his chest. If he was going to play tough, she'd show him exactly what she was capable of. When he didn't recoil, she frowned, trying not to be overpowered by the roaming of his tongue, and squeezed his lower abdomen, right over the bruise. He grabbed both her wrists and held them over her head with one hand. She felt and heard him chuckle and a feeling of dread wash over her. Why didn't he back off? Why didn't it hurt?

"Sakura," he whispered. She looked above to see his Sharingan glowing in the dark, "I said I'm not letting you go this time."

Her eyes snapped shut immediately despite her inkling to stare into his eyes; she'd always found the Sharingan to be particularly mesmerizing. But not now, not at this instant when she feared more than longed for those eyes. What exactly was he planning to do to her? At first she'd merely thought he wanted sex, but now she wasn't entirely sure. That voice was a dangerous one, much like his eyes. And she disliked feeling venerable when she could splinter a tree with a flick of her finger.

When she felt his cool hands, having released her wrists seconds before, smoothing over her stomach under her shirt and the warm wetness of his mouth closing over her cloth-covered breast a high-pitched choke slipped past her lips and she found her fingers gripping the sheets beneath her in a death lock.

"S-S-Sasuke!" she breathed, arching her back as she felt his tongue swirling over her nipple. She gasped, feeling his hand travel over her other breast and squeeze it. Without meaning to, she threaded her fingers into his hair, feeling a thin sheen of sweat forming on her back. "Ah!" she whimpered as she heard the ripping sound of her shirt and felt the cool air rush over her naked skin.

"Look at me," he ordered. She only heaved her chest and turned her head away, hating herself for reacting so helplessly. She wanted to run- and she couldn't, her body refused her to run away. "I said," he clamped the back of her neck to turn her face back in his direction "Look. At. Me."

She harrumphed before glaring up at him in the darkened room. "Look at you? Like you looked at me before you left Konoha when we were twelve? Or like you looked at me in Orochimaru's hideout? Or-"

"Stop that," he scowled, leaning further into her space, teeth lightly biting her lower lip already red and swollen from his other administrations. "Haven't you ever made a mistake but only realized it when it was far too late, Sakura?"

As she lay beneath him, breathing heavily, she recalled the one true thing she regretted in her past, but she also recalled that it hadn't been too late, because Naruto had always been willing to give anyone and everyone a second chance. Maybe this was her turn.

"Sasuke," she said softly, "You're not just any other person to me, you know that right?" She gently caressed his cheek, smiling when he leaned into her touch. "I don't want to wake up in the morning to know we won't be able to see each other again, to share-!" She immediately stopped, blushing furiously at revealing all she had. "I mean! I- hye!" She yelped when he coiled an arm around her waist and hugged her to him, making it so both of them were sitting on the bed on their knees. "Didn't I just say I'm not letting you go?"

"But-"

"But what?" He questioned, brow lifted.

"Earlier, you said, you said you could never stay here, that you hated-"

"I'll work something out, course we might have to take a few trips out of Konoha for my sanity's sake."

"Wha-We?"

"Yes, Sakura, we."

"Uh," she began, only to be cut off as Sasuke's lips descended on her own again effectively silencing her voice.

They both landed on the bed, and this time, she couldn't find it in her to protest- especially since she absolutely loved where his hands were going. She finally let go of her hesitation, her reluctance... her cowardice. She decided her feelings to not commit were selfish... because if she loved him, then she would give him what he wanted, and he wanted her... so much...

As their limbs tangled, their breath combined, their bodies fused... she pushed the thoughts to the back of her conscience. Thoughts of how he was going to be charged with the murder of three elders, charged with the claim of abandoning his village; how he himself might not return at all. But, she loved him, and after what he had been through, what he had given her...

She was willing to sacrifice her life for him- let alone her home- if need be.

-

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**A/N: **

Bacatlover: Yosh! Shannaro! haha, that was my impression of Shanny, my lurv! Who forced me to write semi-smut with her

Shanny: Forced? FORCED?....ah. yeah I did

Bacatlover: You always force me to... you know I'm not even a big fan of SasuSaku! I'd much rather indulge my fetish KakaSaku!

Shanny: Yus yus that's because I'm your awesome muse, I just thought the readers should see what both of us together can come up with ho ho, I must say, We totally screwed with Sasu- chan's character in this

Bacatlover: ahaha, that's why I don't like SasuSaku! I can't write Sasugay worth a crap...

Shanny: That's why you has me!!! XD I shall make a cover for this *O* Please look forward to a sequel guys (we'll start on it asap)

Bacatlover: As in tomorrow or some night I don't need sleep..

Shanny:Read our other stories and check our dev accounts (links on my profile), or face a death by tickling

Bacatlover: Ciaossu!

Shanny: Ja ne!!!


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